The Best Air Mattress

After researching dozens of guest-bed options (including camping pads and futons) and sleeping on six air mattresses, we think the SoundAsleep Dream Series air mattress is the bed you’ll want to make up for your overnight visitors.

Buying Options

There’s no such thing as a perfect, durable air mattress, but after three years of long-term testing we’re confident that the SoundAsleep holds air after many uses. It was among the most comfortable air mattresses we tried (it didn’t deflate in the night, giving better back support) and offered control over inflation. It comes in queen and twin sizes and because it’s taller than cheaper air mattresses, it was easier to climb onto than other air mattresses we tested. In case the mattress pump breaks or the mattress springs a leak, SoundAsleep also offers great customer service.

Buying Options

The less expensive Coleman GuestRest is pretty close to the SoundAsleep. It is 18 inches tall and has an easy-to-use pump, and Coleman’s customer service is responsive. We also love that it includes a quick-release valve for faster breakdown, something its competitors lacked. We think it’s a great mattress but aren’t as certain it’ll hold up as well as the SoundAsleep, which we’ve been testing for three years. We also noticed that this mattress had a strong plasticky odor out of the box, and it lingered unpleasantly on our bedding. The Coleman comes in queen and twin sizes, and if you’re comparison shopping across retailers, note that the GuestRest and SupportRest Elite are the same model.

The research

Who should get this

If you need a mattress for guests or for yourself (say, if you just moved into a new place), an air mattress is likely the most comfortable option. You could get a futon, camping pad, or folding cot, but an air mattress has the advantage of offering the height and surface area of a real bed and working with your regular sheets, along with storing down into a relatively small package.

An air mattress, no matter how expensive or well made, is not meant to replace a real mattress. It won’t withstand nightly use over a long period of time (and many companies specify that if you use the mattress as your primary bed, you’ll void the warranty). An air mattress should be reserved for occasional use, or even up to a week or two, at a time.

How we picked and tested

We looked for air mattresses that were tall enough to climb onto easily and that could take the wear and tear of a few years of occasional use. Video: Michael Hession

We’ve been testing air mattresses since 2014 and after reading user reviews and assessing our own experiences sleeping on air mattresses, we settled on a few criteria that make an air mattress good for home use:

A built-in electric pump: These pumps allow for the fastest and fullest inflation and deflation, and an attached pump means you don’t have to store (and locate) an extra item. Some air mattresses have battery-powered or manual pumps so they can be used while camping, but you shouldn’t choose this if you’re only using the mattress indoors, where you’ll never be far from an outlet. And as we describe in our guide to the best camping mats, air mattresses aren’t a great choice for camping anyway.

A relatively comfortable sleeping surface: An air mattress will never be as comfortable as a real mattress. But it should hold air and not noticeably deflate during the night (it’s normal to need to “top up” the mattress before each subsequent night’s sleep). You should be able to easily adjust the firmness to your liking, and it shouldn’t rustle or jiggle too much once you lie down on it. We’ve found that the most comfortable air mattresses are about 18 inches high. This is the approximate height of a mattress set on a box spring on the floor and makes it easier to climb in and out of.

Good customer service and a decent warranty: Air mattresses are not durable items. In its review of air mattresses, Sleep Like the Dead says an air mattress should last between one and four years with occasional use, and about a year if used regularly. Wirecutter senior editor Kalee Thompson, who wrote our guide to camping sleep pads, told us her impression from researching air mattresses is that they “are not very reliable or long lasting. It was difficult to find any options that didn’t have a lot of user complaints.” Because you’re just about guaranteed to encounter problems, an air mattress from a company that offers a warranty against manufacturing defects in the pump and mattress, along with responsive customer service, will stand out over similar models. One year is the longest warranty we came across, and considering the fact that air mattresses are used only occasionally, we think a shorter time frame is inadequate to guard against unforeseen defects.

A reasonable price: A cheap air mattress (less than $60 for a queen) will usually lack an adequate warranty and customer service and have lower user ratings. But spending past a certain point has diminishing returns, as very expensive air mattresses (upwards of $150 for a queen) aren’t more durable or comfortable, but often just have unnecessary extra features like foam toppers, built-in metal legs, and remote controls.

An air mattress from a company that offers a warranty against manufacturing defects in the pump and mattress, along with responsive customer service, will stand out over similar models.

Our testing protocol was simple: We slept on each mattress for one or two nights. (In some cases, we tested the twin-size version of the mattress with a single 125-pound sleeper; in others, we tried the queen size with two sleepers collectively weighing 280 pounds.) We evaluated how comfortable the mattress felt, whether it noticeably lost air and sank during the night, and how easy it was to inflate and then deflate for storage.

We compared the ratings of each mattress on Amazon and Sleep Like the Dead, noting the ratio of five-star to one-star reviews and common complaints. We also looked at the length of their warranties and contacted each company’s customer service, either by phone or email, to judge how responsive it was and what its protocol is for replacing or repairing a defective mattress.

Buying Options

The SoundAsleep Dream Series is the best air mattress we’ve tried. It offers the strongest combination of performance, a long warranty, and highly responsive and motivated customer service. At its current price of $120, it’s not the cheapest air mattress, but we think it offers the best value without compromising on warranty or customer service, and it doesn’t have any unnecessary extra features.

The SoundAsleep inflates in about two minutes and has more straightforward controls than other mattresses we tried. Video: Michael Hession

The SoundAsleep inflates fully in about two minutes, which was not the fastest of the mattresses we tested, but not an inordinate wait by any means. We preferred its simple dial controls to those of mattresses with firmness settings (like the Insta-Bed Raised Mattress with NeverFlat Pump), because this gave us more control over filling and deflating the mattress to the desired firmness. The SoundAsleep’s pump also deflates the mattress quickly, and the mattress comes with a woven nylon storage bag, packing down to about 14 inches by 14 inches by 13 inches.

Fully inflated, the queen-size SoundAsleep is 19 inches tall—roughly the height of the average sofa seat. Photo: Michael Hession

The queen-size SoundAsleep inflates to 19 inches tall (18 inches for the twin), which is comparable to a mattress resting on a box spring on the floor. This makes it much easier to get into and out of compared with lower air mattresses, some of which inflate to only a foot high. We had no problems getting our queen- and twin-size fitted sheets to grip the mattress snugly, although, because this mattress is so deep, they didn’t cover the sides completely (extra-deep sheets may have solved this problem, but we didn’t test them). Like the other mattresses we tried, the SoundAsleep is made from PVC with a flocked, velvety fabric top, which keeps the sheets from slipping around and provides a softer feel than a plastic-topped air mattress would.

The SoundAsleep didn’t noticeably lose air or sink during the night (unlike at least one other mattress we tried). In fact, it even stayed comfortably firm over two consecutive nights, without needing to be topped up. The twin size was comfortable for a single sleeper, and the queen was comfortable for a couple. As with all air mattresses, there was some creaking and jiggling, which is more noticeable with two sleepers on a larger mattress. And like all air mattresses, the SoundAsleep feels nothing like a real mattress, though the addition of a foam topper or mattress pad would add extra cushion and insulation. But everyone slept comfortably through the night, and no one reported soreness or back pain in the morning.

The SoundAsleep packs down to about 14 by 14 by 13 inches and fits into a woven nylon storage bag. Photo: Michael Hession

We like the simple inflate and deflate controls on the SoundAsleep better than mattresses with pumps that allow only preset fill levels. Photo: Michael Hession

The flocked top on the SoundAsleep helps keep a fitted sheet from slipping. Photo: Michael Hession

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The SoundAsleep comes with a one-year warranty. If your mattress springs a leak, the inner inflation coils fail, or the pump breaks within the first year, SoundAsleep will either repair or replace your mattress. When we called SoundAsleep to ask about how its warranty works, a representative said that you may simply have to send a photo of your mattress, or mail the item back, depending on the nature of the defect, and tell how long you’ve owned it and how often you’ve used the mattress. In most cases, SoundAsleep told us, the customer would not be responsible for shipping charges.

We have evidence that SoundAsleep may go above and beyond the terms of its warranty to keep its customers happy. Wirecutter editor Harry Sawyers’s SoundAsleep mattress developed a leak around the pump after 15 months of use, and SoundAsleep agreed to repair the mattress free of charge, even though it was out of warranty.

We aren’t the only ones who like it: the SoundAsleep is among the best-rated air mattresses on Sleep Like the Dead and has an impressive 4.3 star (out of five) average on Amazon, across more than 14,000 reviews, a greater average over more reviews than any other mattress we considered. We couldn’t find another air mattress with nearly as many reviews as the SoundAsleep, and most of its competitors had a few thousand reviews or less.

Long-term test notes

Two different Wirecutter staffers have been using SoundAsleep Dream Series for occasional guest bedding. They’ve been happy with it, noting that because the mattress packs down efficiently, it’s easy to transport and store in a small space. I have used my mattress five to six times over the past year and haven’t noticed any change in performance; it still doesn’t lose any air or sink during the night.

Senior editor Harry Sawyers said he likes that the storage bag is big enough to actually accommodate the folded mattress. But he said that the pump is very loud and that there’s a bit of guesswork to figuring out how much to inflate the mattress. “I almost always underinflate, thinking it’s full enough,” he said.

To avoid this issue, try filling the mattress all the way up, and then releasing air slowly until you reach the desired firmness. The company says it’ll take about four and a half minutes to reach the maximum fill level; after this, the motor will keep running but air won’t go into the mattress, so you don’t have to worry about it overinflating or popping. Nonetheless, it’s important not to leave the motor running unattended, as it can overheat.

Buying Options

We tested the Coleman GuestRest Double High Airbed because so many Wirecutter readers raved about it in our comments section. They were right—it’s a great air mattress. It’s just as comfortable as the SoundAsleep and comes with a similar built-in pump, 18-inch height, flocked PVC top, and a one-year warranty. But we think it’s worth spending the extra $20 to $30 (depending on size) for the SoundAsleep because we’re more confident about its long-term durability after three years of testing, and it receives more and better user reviews.

You can’t always trust Amazon reviews, but we think the sheer outpouring of praise for the SoundAsleep shows that people who’ve purchased it are generally happier with it than those who’ve bought the Coleman. The Coleman still receives good user reviews, with a 3.8-star rating (out of five) across more than 950 reviews on Amazon. But that doesn’t compare with the 4.3-star average across more than 14,000 reviews that the SoundAsleep receives.

The Coleman inflates in half the time of the SoundAsleep (a negligible difference of a minute or so) and also has a unique quick-release valve to help the air escape faster when it’s time to pack it up. Rolled up, it’s somewhat bulkier than the SoundAsleep by a few extra inches in length and width. The only real issue we had with the Coleman is that it had a plastic odor out of the box, and the smell was much stronger than that of other new mattresses we tested. The smell lingered on our sheets for a day or two. We’ll keep tabs on whether the smell fades during our long-term testing.

Coleman seems to have similarly good customer service to SoundAsleep. We reached out via their webchat service and were helped within minutes. To redeem the warranty, the company simply requires photos of the damage and a copy of a receipt. If you’re shopping around, Coleman confirmed that the GuestRest and SupportRest are the same model.

Care and maintenance

According to SoundAsleep, you can clean your air mattress with water and a mild soap solution and let it air-dry. The PVC material of the mattress may stretch slightly after the first time you inflate it, and you may need to top it up with air about an hour after you first fill it up.

The various manufacturers of mattresses we tested say not to store the air mattress in areas with high temperature fluctuations or humidity, as this can stress the materials. That may mean that you won’t want to store your air mattress in an unfinished basement or garage. If you do spring a leak, try these instructions for locating and patching it.

It’s important not to let the SoundAsleep motor run for more than six minutes or so. As we note above, after the mattress fully inflates, the motor will keep running but no more air will go into the mattress. After about six and half minutes, the motor will automatically shut off to avoid overheating, and it won’t turn back on for about an hour while it cools down. The company says that running the motor longer can damage it.

The competition

The Insta-Bed Raised Air Mattress with Insta III Pump was previously our budget pick, but it’s been discontinued. We still like this mattress, but stock is limited—it is available in only twin size and costs about the same as our other picks. The Insta-Bed is also only 15 inches high, compared with our main pick’s 18 inches, so it can be difficult to get into and out of.

We tested the Insta-Bed Raised Mattress with NeverFlat Pump, which is pretty much identical to the SoundAsleep but with a different pump system. Instead of a simple inflate/deflate pump, the Insta-Bed with NeverFlat Pump automatically inflates to preset fill levels: plush, medium, and firm. We think the presets may be nice for some people, but others will want the ability to customize the exact firmness level. The Insta-Bed also has a secondary NeverFlat pump that will kick on if the mattress loses air during the night to refill to your desired firmness setting. The pump makes a subtle buzzing noise in standby mode, which our tester found annoying (although you can unplug the pump). The extra pump also means extra seams, creating another potential area for leakage.

We wanted to love the Intex Dura-Beam Series, which inflates to a lofty 22 inches and currently costs about half as much as the SoundAsleep. The Intex’s pump was powerful, filling the mattress to full firmness in less than four minutes. But when we tested the queen size with two sleepers, it was noticeably less firm in the morning, enough so that one tester said his back felt a bit sore in the morning due to the lack of support. We tested it for a second night with a single sleeper, and once again it significantly leaked during the night, feeling wobbly and unstable by morning. Also troubling is Intex’s short warranty, which guarantees the product for only 90 days. We don’t think this is long enough for most people to detect failures with the mattress, because an air mattress is used only occasionally.

We also tried the Intex Pillow Rest, which has a raised area at the head of the mattress meant to support a pillow. We tested it in the twin size, but it is only 16.5 inches tall. Our tester didn’t like the elevated pillow area, and having a designated top of the bed could make it awkward to position it relative to your nearest outlet. Like the other Intex mattress, it comes with only a 90-day warranty.